Alliance BioEnergy + has been developing bolt-on cellulosic ethanol technology and the company has announced that its results from the testing of its pilot plant are positive. The tests looked at distillers grains (DDGs) and corn kernel fiber and it ability to be converted to cellulosic ethanol using the CoPro Max separation unit designed in conjunction with Harvest Technology. The …
Big Oil Wins Big on Taxes
Today is Tax Day. While many Americans will receive a modest refund, oil producers are raking in the big bucks, $4 billion to $6 billion, through tax incentives dating back more than 100 years. Today, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is pointing out that many of these century-old tax provisions never expire while the ethanol industry agreed to let its …
Research Uses Waste Papayas for Biofuels
Research led by the U.D. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists is looking at how to encourage algae in to producing oil from waste papayas and other unmarketable crops or byproducts such as glycerol. The lead scientist for the project is Lisa Keith, a plant pathologist with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). The experiments are taking place in Hilo Hawaii and …
BioEnergy Bytes
KMA Land Radio is reporting that the Missouri House has voted to extend the state’s ethanol producer incentive program until 2020. The program provides grants to ethanol biorefineries to assist in renewable fuel production. The Geothermal, Hydropower and Biomass Associations have launched the first Baseload Renewable Energy Summit, to be held June 7-8 in Reno, Nevada. The Summit will bring …
Growth Energy Names Emily Skor as CEO
Emily Skor will be taking over the role of CEO for Growth Energy effective May 16, 2016. She most recently served as the Vice President for Communications of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) and the Executive Director of the CHPA Educational Foundation. Former and acting CEO and Growth Energy Co-Chair Tom Buis will continue to serve in his role …
RenFuel & Nordic Paper to Build Biofuel Plant
Sweden is going to be the home of a new advanced biofuel pilot plant that will use lignin as the feedstock. RenFuel and Nordic Paper are citing the facility in Bäckhammar in Värmland, and the project has been granted 71 million kronor by the Swedish Energy Agency. Using lignin from the pulp industry RenFuel has developed a method to convert …
Proposed Tax Credit Amendment for CO2 Capture
A new amendment has been proposed by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) that would provide a tax credit for technologies that are able to convert CO2 into products such as advanced biofuels, animal feed and biochemicals. The proposed language would create a new utilization tax incentive to complement section 45Q of the tax code, which already provides credits for the …
BioEnergy Bytes
Gevo has announced that ASTM International has now completed its process of approving the revision of ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons) to include alcohol to jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK) derived from renewable isobutanol. The ASTM process is now completed in all respects. According to the latest April 2016 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) and …
Texas A&M Discovers Algae to Biofuel Breakthrough
Scientists from Texas A&M may have discovered a way to coax algae into making larger amounts of oil. The team discovered an enzyme responsible for making hydrocarbons that could in turn increase the amount of oil algae produces improving the algae to biofuel process. The green algae strain researched was Botryococcus braunii, and the study was published in the current …
EIA Reports Biodiesel Production on the Rise
According to a recent Today in Energy, published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), biodiesel production is back on the growth track. In 2014 amid concerns over the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the expiration of the biodiesel blender’s tax credit, biodiesel production dropped after reaching record production levels in 2013. However, as biodiesel blends were increased for 2015 under …